


Missing Button

by Wallwalker



Category: Disco Elysium (Video Game)
Genre: Community: fan_flashworks, Gen, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Intrusive Thoughts, Mid-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29801637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: A detective wakes up in a wrecked hostel room and discovers he is missing a button from (apparently) his favorite shirt.
Kudos: 4





	Missing Button

A homicide detective woke up in a trashed hostel room to find that a button had popped off of the ruins of his white satin shirt. It must have come off in the night - he had not slept well since he'd woken up for what he assumed hadn't actually been the first time, and all of the tossing and turning couldn't have helped. The detective (he still did not remember his name, even after two days of thinking about it at every opportunity) picked it up, feeling slightly sad as he looked at it. He might not remember much, but sometimes he felt things, longing or anger or in this case a distant sense of loss. He must have liked this shirt, he thought. 

A thought bubbled to his mind, unbidden - _You found it on a hanger in a tiny clothing shop off of Boogie Street, hanging next to a sportscoat you wouldn't have been able to afford in a thousand years, and you had to save for weeks just to afford the shirt, but it was worth it when you put it on and went dancing that night, shining like a tiny star under the disco ball, laughing as if you'd never -_

He blinked, and the thought vanished. He'd been hearing the voices since he'd woken up two days ago - or were they voices? He didn't usually _hear_ them as voices; they just came as thoughts that pushed his own out of the way, demanding his attention. Some of them had been helpful over the past two days; others had been... less so. 

_Hmph... I still say you would've slept better if you'd take another drink. You have a bottle of Commodore Red RIGHT THERE._

That was one of the more unhelpful ones, he thought, shaking his head. Why was he carrying around the bottle of booze, anyway? He thought of the Lieutenant's words when he'd asked him about his one cigarette - _an unnecessary test of will,_ he'd said, smiling sardonically - and he supposed maybe this was _his_ unnecessary test of will.

 _I'm just saying,_ the unhelpful thought cajoled, _you'll have a lot more will to spend on, you know, actually solving the case if you just take a drink -_

He shook his head. He wasn't going to do that, he thought. That was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place, from what he could deduce, and it wasn't going to help him get out of it. 

_That's good,_ one of the more helpful thoughts came - he found that they came in clusters, that he could almost recognize them. Part of him had given them names, at least privately, but he was starting to think he shouldn't have done that; now they might never go away. This one, though, he didn't mind. It kept him focused. _Wear the RCM cloak; no one will notice the missing button underneath it. You can fix the shirt later, and find another meanwhile if it bothers you. Get dressed - Lieutenant Kitsuragi is waiting for you._

Yes. He reached for the smock and slipped it on over his ridiculous shirt and tie combo, brushing himself off. He wanted to at least look like a proper officer, especially around the Lieutenant. Kim was obviously a good detective, and he said that the detective himself was good at what he was doing even if he was sometimes a very odd man, so of course he wanted to try to be a good detective if they were going to work together. 

_Hmph, you're passing up a chance for some real fun for a guy you barely know? What's that about? There's gotta be something more to it._

The unhelpful thought bubbles up again but the detective ignores it, not sure what it's trying to imply anyway. He heads out, locking up behind him despite the fact that if someone wanted to get in they could get in through the window anyway. Hopefully no one would risk slicing themselves up for what little he had in there. He needed to get out; it was getting warm in there anyway. 

_What do you mean, warm? The breeze through the window is freezing. You can hear the sleet coming down out there._

He let the thought pass as he headed downstairs. They usually left him alone if he didn't engage. 

Lieutenant Kitsuragi was waiting for him, nodding as he saw him approach, finishing his tea. "Good morning, detective," he greeted, then seemed to do a double-take. "Are you all right?" 

"Good morning, Kim," he said cheerfully. "I'm fine, why?" 

There's a suspicious gleam in the Lieutenant's eyes... one that quickly softens as he approaches. "You're flushed. I was worried you might be sick from all of the running around in the cold." 

_Not quite a lie, sire. But there was another concern he didn't speak of. One that has not been far from his mind since your first meeting._

_He didn't have anything to worry about. Good on you,_ the more helpful thought came.

 _Hmph. Dull and duller. Call me when you figure out WHY you're getting flushed when you're thinking about him. Or maybe ask that man from the balcony, I bet he could tell you a few things._ And the unhelpful thought was gone. 

The detective shakes his head. "I'm actually starting to feel better. I don't know what you mean." 

"I see. That's good news, then." Kim finishes his morning tea and puts the cup down, nodding to the manager. "If what we've been told is true, we should be able to cross to the outskirts of the district today. We shouldn't waste time." 

"Sounds good." He could feel a few new gazes burning into the back of his head, but he would worry about interviewing them later; the real action was going to be on those outskirts, he could feel it.

His partner nodded approvingly, and somehow that made the detective feel a bit warmer, but he didn't dwell on it. There was a lot of work to be done, and he couldn't really spend the time to figure out what was going on, as much as he wanted to. Besides, they were both still trying to figure out who he really was before all of this, first; that seemed a lot more important. But someday he'd have to find out more about this guy, and why he really wanted to be a better detective - a better person - when he was around. "After you, then."

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [fan_flashworks](https://fan-flashworks.dreamwidth.org) for the "button" challenge. 
> 
> I'm still trying to figure out how to write Harry. This was me testing out the idea of the skills being intrusive thoughts, rather than literal voices in his head. I think it works, but I'm still considering.


End file.
